300-Pound Romney Sign Claimed by GOP Staffer Don McDowell

Don McDowell (pictured, standing on the left), a former GOP staffer in the Iowa State Senate, has claimed a huge Iowa-shaped sign carved with Mitt Romney’s campaign logo.

The enormous sign was advertised on CraigsList.org for free and was sitting at Romney’s former Iowa headquarters, reports the Des Moines Register.

Giese Manufacturing in Dubuqu, Iowa manufactured the 300-pound laser-cut sign for a campaign rally on Nov. 7, 2011, the day that Romney began his one-year campaign. The steel sign appeared on TV and in print in national news stories about Romney’s campaign kickoff.

McDowell told the Des Moines Register that it cost him $60 in labor and $45 for a rental truck to carry the sign away.

McDowell said that he collects of all kinds of political memorabilia from both parties. For now, he is storing the sign in a garage in West Des Moines.